


Ready

by dafna



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode Tag, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-01-19
Updated: 2002-01-19
Packaged: 2017-10-02 12:59:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dafna/pseuds/dafna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leo calls Jed 'sir'. Jed reacts badly. (Small spoilers for "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen".)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ready

I watched Leo out of the corner of my eye as we strode down out of the airport together. I shook hands absently, smiling as people congratulated me.

We'd left Josh at the terminal. I never knew his father, but I knew he'd been one of Leo's oldest friends and had always felt faintly jealous that some Connecticut lawyer had a claim to him. And now one of Leo's oldest friends was dead and another was about to be . . . don't say it Jed, not yet.

Tonight was the first night I'd even let myself think it. "I'm ready," I said. And he grinned that Leo McGarry grin that lights up whole rooms.

And as we walked out of the terminal he whispered, "Now, don't shake hands with too many people, sir. We're late as it is."

And I thought, "sir?" I mean, OK, he called me "governor." But it was the same way he called Abbey "doctor." A friend's boast: Awwww, look what you two did.

But "sir" felt serious. "Sir" felt -- ready, I realized. He's ready for me to be president.

I stopped short in the middle of O'Hare.

"Sir?"

I turned on him, my eyes accusing. "You're never going to call me 'Jed', again, are you?"

Leo quickly scanned the area around him, for reporters, I assume. "Don't you think we could do this another -- "

"I'm serious." I poked my finger at him. "Call me 'Jed', right now."

Leo rolled his eyes. "Sir, we have a whole ballroom full of people, waiting to hear your speech."

"Stop calling me 'sir'." He looked at me as if I'd gone crazy. Out of the corner of my eye I saw one of our guards approach. I waved him away.

My heart was racing suddenly, panicked. If Leo wasn't going to stay normal, who was?

"I mean it, Leo," I said, even though I wasn't sure what I meant. "Call me 'Jed'."

"OK, that's enough." Leo said in his I've-been-very-patient-up-until-now voice. He took my elbow and I could tell he was going to drag me out of the airport, if need me.

I looked around and saw a restroom. Salvation.

"Wait!" I said, my voice higher than it needed to be. Leo and the guards stopped. "I just -- " I gestured toward the restroom and one of the guards went inside. He came out and gave the all-clear sign.

"You guys can wait out here, right?" Not looking to see if they did, I dragged Leo with me into the restroom.

"OK, I have just about had enough -- " Leo's voice was rising and I fixed him with a stare.

"You won't even call me Jed now, will you?"

Leo rolled his eyes again. "Sir, it's going to be a long four years -- eight years with luck, and I really don't think this is the kind of thing we have to decide -- "

"Jesus, Leo," I said. "We've known each other for _decades_. We've known each other's _wives_ for decades."

I advanced toward him where he stood against the wall. I pointed my finger at him. "Come to that, Leo, we've _known_ each other."

He blushed and looked to one side. "Sir, that was a really long time ago and . . ."

"Stop calling me 'sir'!" Infuriated, I reached for his chin to force him to meet my eyes. His own eyes were blazing with that damn McGarry defiance, that stubborn pride that never left him, even when he was face down in the gutter.

Before I could think about it, I covered his mouth with mine and wrapped my hands around his skull.

"Leo," I sighed, nipping at his lips. I drank him in, reveling in his long-forgotten taste, sucking at his tongue once his mouth finally parted with a sigh.

"Leo." He was kissing me back now, with an addict's desperation and the look of a man clutching a life raft. I lifted one hand from his skull and stroked the backside of his ear.

"Jed," he cried out. "My god, Jed . . ."

I pulled back, keeping one hand against the side of his face.

"Now, I'm ready," I said.

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written for [Jae's "livejournal mood" challenge](http://www.jaegecko.com/mood/). I had to chop to fit the challenge, this is the slightly longer original.
> 
> Also, while "Ready" was written before I finished ["Direction Home"](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5956), I already knew that I was going to write the airport scene from Leo's POV. I wanted to experiment with writing the scene from Jed's POV and used the mood challenge to do so. It was also my first time writing Jed first-person POV, so that was fun, also. Even after finishing "Direction Home," I still think "Ready" stands on its own as a short little vignette. Not to mention that what Jed thinks is going on in this scene and what Leo thinks are very very different.


End file.
